CHANDIGARH, July 5 — Commuters battling bottlenecks on Airport Road may find relief starting September 1, when the long-awaited Greenfield Project is set to open to the public. The 31-kilometre stretch, being built under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana, is designed to divert Delhi-bound traffic heading to Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, offering a much-needed alternative route.
According to an official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the project is nearing completion. “About 93% of the work is done. The remaining stretch will be finished by the last week of August,” the official said, adding that the road is expected to be opened by September 1—slightly behind the original June deadline.
The new highway begins from IT Chowk (PR-7) near Chandigarh International Airport and connects to the Kurali-Chandigarh road. Estimated at ₹1,400 crore, the project replaces the scrapped 40-km Kharar-Banur-Tepla road plan, which was shelved in July 2019 due to its high projected cost.
Construction on the Greenfield Project officially began in October 2022 after a Maharashtra-based firm was awarded the contract. However, progress was stalled in 2021 when landowners protested against the compensation being offered. The deadlock was resolved after NHAI approved a four-fold increase in compensation—raising payouts from earlier amounts of ₹24 lakh to ₹4.18 crore per acre, to a revised rate of ₹1 crore to ₹1.09 crore per acre.
The road is expected to significantly decongest Airport Road and streamline long-distance traffic moving northwards from Delhi, easing pressure on existing urban corridors. Once operational, the new link is poised to become a vital artery in the region’s highway network.
